‘EO’ Filmmaker Jerzy Skolimowski On Lessons Learned From Robert Bresson – Contenders International
deadline.comPolish maestro Jerzy Skolimowski calls EO, winner of the Cannes Film Festival Jury Prize and just this week the Best Foreign Film award from the New York Film Critics Circle, “practically a road movie” whose POVs from the titular donkey “were the most effective element of the whole filming and editing.” EO is a vision of modern Europe seen through the eyes of a donkey on a stoic journey through a world where disaster and despair alternate with unexpected bliss.
From Sideshow & Janus Films, it’s Poland’s entry into the Best International Feature Film Oscar race. Comparisons have been made to Robert Bresson’s 1966 study of the same breed of animal in Au Hazard Balthazar, something Skolimowski welcomes.
During Deadline’s Contenders Film: International event, Skolimowski discussed the profound impact that movie had on him. “I was a young unknown filmmaker from Poland and suddenly I received a phone call from the boss of [prestigious film journal] Cahiers du Cinéma,” he said. “They wanted to interview me because they just made the list of the 10 best films of the year and to my huge surprise my little modest Polish movie Walkover was in second place.
Of course I was extremely pleased, but I immediately asked who was on the first place and it was Bresson’s Balthazar.” Skolimowski immediately sought out the film and “loved” it.
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